My chi mix had either IBS or IBD for a few years, and was eating homemade. He regularly had loose or soft stools and would go up to 6x a day. There was no rhyme or reason as to what caused loose stools, and it got to the point where it seemed like everything bothered him. His moods would swing between his normal energetic self, and lethargy, and his appetite swung too. One day he would eat early and often, then next he might not eat until 10pm or he might skip eating all together. Pancreatitis was ruled out, leaving IBS/IBD. The vet ordered a food trial so I switched to a limited ingredient kibble (Natural Balance Duck & Garbonzo Beans), and she put him on Carafate and Prilosec for 2 weeks. I stopped the Carafate after 5 days so I could start giving Gastriplex.
Here is the problem for small animals though: the dose is 1 pill per 15 lbs. My chi is 9.5 lbs, and from what I understand, too much of this can cause gastric upset. But even if I wanted to give a whole pill, he could never swallow this.
So I opened each capsule and weighed out the contents which is .5g. I then measure out .32g as being the proper daily dose for my chi. I then divided that in thirds to give a portion with each of his 3 meals.
Unfortunately though, this stuff is really bitter and it was extremely difficult getting him to eat it. He would not eat kibble if this was sprinkled on it. I mixed it with a drop of honey and he still would not eat it. I finally got sardines (thankfully a unique protein for him as he had never had it, but even still giving anything extra on a food trial is a no-no, however OMEGA 3s are supposed to help with inflammation so I figured what the heck...)and took about 2g sardine and mashed it in the Gastriplex. My chi readily takes it this way after each meal.
What I observed is that changing to kibble made an immediate difference in his stool, like overnight, so I attribute that improvement to switching to a unique protein and carb.
The Gastriplex might be helping his GI tract heal. He is getting better over the past few weeks since I started the Gastriplex but that's also when I switched to the food trial, so he could just be healing by his own natural processes.
I feel better giving it to him than not though, because the ingredients are all supposed to really help. Maybe his GI *is* healing faster as a result of Gastriplex. Maybe even with the food trial and kibble he would not be doing as well as he is without it. His moods are better but he doesn't have the same energy he had when feeding homemade, and at the conclusion of the food trial I hope to transition him back to homemade.
As for Gastriplex, as long as I have it I will continue giving it to him with a little sardine, daily, but when I run out I will let it go and see at that point how he does. I really can't say if it is making any difference or not at this point, but imho it is worth giving him every opportunity to get better.